Grounded relationalities, the socio-ecological (de/re)territorialization of São Paulo's urban marginalities
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper explores how marginal urbanities are produced, contested, and dismantled through grounded processes of territorialization, deterritorialization, and reterritorialization. While Latin American urban studies have extensively analysed structural territorial struggles, the lived everyday processes through which low-income individuals are (re)appropriating, defending, and losing territory remain poorly understood. Retracing the history of Terra de Deus, a self-built marginal urban settlement located within São Paulo's ecological peripheries, this study draws on Latin American traditions of situated oral history to re-centre residents' testimonies and expose what is at stake under lived (de/re)territorialization struggles. Based on 3 years of fieldwork (2022–2024) – including community workshops, in-depth interviews, and participatory cartography – this paper introduces the concept of grounded relationalities as the fragile socio-ecological relations emerging and conditioning the (de/re)territorialization process. This study exposes how grounded relationalities represent the emerging terrain on which marginalized communities dispute territorial appropriation and longevity.
Source: Geographica Helvetica
Author: Lucas Lerchs
Institutions: University of Zurich, UCLouvain
Language: English
Topic: Latin American Urban Studies
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Award: G5492967702
OpenAlex ID: W7140158223